Corsicana is a city in east-central Texas and the seat of Navarro County, positioned about 58 miles southeast of Dallas at a strategic crossroads where Interstate 45 meets U.S. Highways 75 and 287 and State Highways 22 and 31. That junction, roughly halfway between Dallas and Houston along I-45, has made Corsicana a waypoint and service center for travelers and a self-contained regional hub for the surrounding agricultural county. The city's history runs deep. Founded in the 1840s and named for the island of Corsica, it grew first as a cotton town and railroad stop. In 1894, workers drilling for water struck oil instead, giving Corsicana the distinction of hosting the first commercial oil discovery in Texas and briefly making it the state's first boomtown — an event commemorated at Petroleum Park. A few years later, in 1896, a German baker opened what became the Collin Street Bakery, and its DeLuxe Fruitcake earned Corsicana lasting worldwide fame as the "fruitcake capital of the world." That bakery still anchors the city's identity and its downtown. Today Corsicana is a city of roughly 25,000 people that balances historic character with its role as a modern county seat. The Carriage District preserves grand Victorian-era homes built in the late 1800s, while downtown retains a traditional courthouse square. Navarro College, a public community college with an enrollment in the thousands, brings an educational and cultural anchor to the west side of town. Lake Halbert Park and a network of city parks provide recreation, and the city's I-45 position keeps Dallas, Waco, and Houston within reach. Corsicana suits residents drawn to an affordable, history-rich Texas town with genuine local institutions, a community college, and convenient freeway access to the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.